The Rebirth of Trace Creek

The Valleyist Papers

A COLLECTION OF ESSAYS WRITTEN IN FAVOUR OF THE IMPROVEMENT OF STEPHENS VALLEY

Author – William Ray

Edition 3. Issue 02.

This month we turn our attention to Trace Creek and how it is being “re-booted” by a team of experts, led by Cumberland River Compact. It should be noted that this article borrows heavily from the description of the Trace Creek project on the Compact’s webpage at https://cumberlandrivercompact.org/2023/11/20/restoring-a-historic-stream-along-the-natchez-trace/ . The Valleyist is simply taking a lot of their information and transforming it for the residents of Stephens Valley. 

For the residents, it is well known that Trace Creek is troubled. When we look at the fork of the creek that runs through the middle of Jackson Falls, cross the creek on the covered bridge, or walk along beside the creek on one of the trails, we see that the banks are actively eroding and choked with invasive species of non-native vines, shrubs, and trees. We also see a creek that has a curiously straight alignment in many sections. Mother Nature rarely uses straight lines. We also note that the creek is devoid of life, so, although we are not environmental engineers, we know our home creek is ailing. The state of Tennessee agrees and has proclaimed Trace Creek as a distressed stream.  

Trace Creek runs about four miles – including two miles through Stephens Valley – before flowing into the Harpeth River, taking with it the eroded soil and degraded water quality from just upstream. The creek arises near the old Stephens homestead at the end of Pasquo Road, formed by some local springs and runoff from the hills that carry the Natchez Trace. It builds along Pasquo and then parallels Carsten Street and Glenrock Drive, before leaving SV along Sneed Road, and then turns to go under Sneed then along Temple Road, going under Highway 100 on its way to empty into the Harpeth River. For over twenty years, the Tennessee Division of Water has reported that Trace Creek “insufficiently supports aquatic life” due to the loss of natural habitat and pollution from silt, due largely to agricultural run-off. 

While Trace Creek is likely tens of thousands of years old, for most of its existence the stream slowly evolved with its surrounding environment, until more recent years when that environment changed.  Over time, Trace Creek evolved to carry an expected amount of water and sediment from the surrounding watershed to downstream waterways.  A rich diversity of plants and animals called Trace Creek home, and these species evolved right along with it.   

Historically the creek would have been home to a rich array of aquatic and wetlands species. Further, migratory animals that are declining in population today would have fed on the aquatic life, and enjoyed plentiful support from mature tulip poplar trees, American sycamores, oaks, and other plants within Trace Creek’s healthy floodplain.  But the changes brought by farming the rich floor of the valley took precedence over the health of the creek.  Since natural meandering streams slow down plowing, planting, and harvesting, common agricultural solutions were implemented. The creek was rerouted and straightened to redirect it to the squared edges of the farm fields. Many decades ago, this practice knocked the stream out of equilibrium with its surrounding environment, and Trace Creek went into decline. 

After the creek’s realignment, and after the completion of the northern terminus of Natchez Trace Parkway, the volume and velocity of water and sediment draining from the watershed and moving through the creek channel became dramatically different. The alterations set into motion accelerating issues with erosion and habitat loss. Within the stream, ecologically critical species of macroinvertebrates (insects in their nymph and larval stages such as snails and crayfish that spend at least part of their lives in water) were buried beneath the muck. Newly exposed soil along the banks and atop the floodplains were colonized by highly invasive, non-native plants which our local insects, birds, and animals have not evolved to eat. The food supply which is needed by the local animals continues to dwindle as invasive species choke out native habitat. 

Thankfully, this bleak scene is not going to end in despair. The development of Stephens Valley has made the Compact’s Compensatory Stream Mitigation Program viable for Trace Creek. As Land Innovations and Rochford Realty and Construction Company were planning SV, they had to evaluate comprehensive stormwater solutions for Stephens Valley to get regulatory approval of the project we now call home. In that process, it became apparent that Trace Creek had some major issues already, and the construction of SV would not improve the lot of Trace Creek without affirmative action to do so. Their search for solutions that would find favor with the Williamson County authorities led them to Cumberland River Compact, and that was very fortunate for the developers and for Trace Creek. The Cumberland River Compact specializes in small and large-scale stream restoration projects across the Cumberland River basin. Previous projects include the Richland Creek dam removal at McCabe Golf Course, Moss Wright Bank Stabilization project in Goodlettsville, and stream restoration on the west fork of the Red River at Billy Dunlop Park in Clarksville.  

Trace Creek in Stephens Valley will be one of the largest, suburban stream restoration projects in Tennessee history. Nearly 14,000 feet of stream (2.6 miles) will be restored and permanently protected by a conservation easement. Since we stated earlier that Trace Creek is four miles long, the restoration will obviously not extend all the way along Temple Road to the Harpeth River (behind our Publix on Highway 100).  But even the non-restored sections of the creek will benefit from the 2.6 miles of restoration around our homes.  

Maybe we’ve talked enough about the history of Trace Creek and how it came to be troubled. Now let’s talk about the restoration project that is happening before our eyes here in SV. As we walk and drive around the neighborhood, work is being done to improve water quality, mitigate habitat loss to protect fish and wildlife, and increase the public's ability to use the channel for fishing and other recreational activities.  

As this is written, the creek is being returned to an alignment that honors its original route.  Though many trees must be cut down to do this work, as many as possible are being recycled to construct in-stream habitat – riffles, toewood, log rollers, and more will be included in the rebirth of Trace Creek. Herbaceous plant seed, willow shoots, and biodegradable fiber matting will help keep soils in place as construction crews complete this step. If you stop and observe the work for a few minutes, you cannot help but notice that they are using materials from the valley such as rock, logs, and native plants to help slow down stormwater flow and restore the natural meander of curve pattern found in stable streams like Trace Creek was originally. It is also very interesting to see the technology being used in the project. For example, look at the large trackhoes doing most of the work and note the two GPS antennae mounted on their turrets.  

   

 

These units communicate with the GPS unit presently on a tripod near the garden plots and allow the machine and operator to reshape Trace Creek according to the plans, without the need for extensive surveying and staking of the construction project. The plans developed for the project are downloaded to the machines and the precise depth of each earth-moving action is dictated by the GPS units. Pretty amazing, eh? 

Following construction, the floodplains surrounding the creek will be planted with tens of thousands of native trees and shrubs and hundreds of pounds of native grass and flower seed – black willows, water oaks, tulip poplars; elderberries, silky dogwoods, and spicebush; big bluestem grass, lance-leaved coreopsis, and brown-eyed susans are only a few of several dozen unique species being planted. 

As this work is done, we will have a front row seat for the rebirth of the Trace Creek ecosystem. As the mud bottom of the creek is replaced with rock and as the stream is relieved of the choking invasive species of plants, the quality of the water will improve. We will soon see aquatic plants and insects return. After that crayfish and the larval/nymph forms of insects that have an aquatic cycle to their life cycle will return, and our creek will again live. It is expected that Cumberland River Compact will also take these tools and help attract small fish species to the creek, which will enhance our bird watching opportunities and the bird species that specialize in living on those fish and insect larvae will also return. We have all of this ahead of us, and it is really exciting! Perhaps, in a few years, we will be teaching our children to fish right here in the neighborhood.  

The Cumberland River Compact has set aside funding to monitor and adaptively manage in-stream conditions and streamside vegetation at the site for seven years to ensure its ecological success. After seven years, the site will be permanently protected and monitored by the Compact within a conservation easement. 

We are all lucky to get Trace Creek re-gifted to us by everyone involved in this rebirth. This is a treat for all of us and our senses. The reborn creek will give us beautiful vistas that we didn’t know we were going to get. Further, the creek, reborn with its flows, riffles and plunge pools, will give us an audible gift – the song born in running water, which will complement the bells we enjoy from Saint Matthew Catholic Church. Along with the sights and sounds, we should also find solace and comfort from the way the creek will improve.

We have described how a stream is being reborn by the introduction of impediments to its structure.  Perhaps we can all find hope in this lesson being laid out before us. Are there any of us that are not also facing new challenges and changes to our lives in SV? Is it possible that we have been looking at those challenges and changes too negatively? Maybe our challenges are being put in place such that we can be reborn along with Trace Creek.

My fellow Kentuckian, Wendell Berry described the process of facing impediments to our lives well, when he said: “There are, it seems, two muses: the Muse of Inspiration, who gives us inarticulate visions and desires, and the Muse of Realization, who returns again and again to say, "It is yet more difficult than you thought." This is the muse of form. It may be then that form serves us best when it works as an obstruction, to baffle us and deflect our intended course. It may be that when we no longer know what to do, we have come to our real work and when we no longer know which way to go, we have begun our real journey. The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings.”